Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1887-06-25

venge, ali! that is another thing. 1 would
kill them all II they stood in my way, all ex-
cept Bessie. II war breaks out, who will
hold up a hand to help the 'verdomde Eneels-
mann? They would all be afraid. And it
is not my fault. Can I help it il I love that
womans l would slaughter every English
man in the Transvaal to gain Bessie-ay!
and every Boer, too, and throw all the ma
tives In" and he laughed aloud and struck
the great black horse. making it plunge and
caper CALAMITY.
"And then" he went on, giving his am
bition wing, "when I have got Bessie. and
we have kicked all these Englishmen out Of
the land, in q very few years I shall rule this
country; and what next2 Why, then I will
stir up the Dutch feeling in Natal and in the
old colony, and we will push the E~nglishmen
back into the sea, make a clean sweep of the
natives, only keeping enough for servants.
and have a united South Africa, like that
poor silly man Burgers used to pirate of. but
did not know how to bring about. A united
Dutch South Africa, and Frank Muller to
rule it! Well, such things have been, and
may be again. Give me forty years of life
and strength and We shall see"-
just then he reached the veranda of the
house, and, dismissing his secret ambitions
from his mind, Frank Muller dismounted and
entered. In the sitting room he found Silas
Croft reading a newspaper.
"Good day, ON Silas," he said, extending
his hand.
GOOD day, Meinheer Frank Muller" re-
Piled the old man, coldly, for John had told
him of the incident at the shooting party
which had so nearly ended fatally, and
though he had made no remark he had
formed his own conclusions.
what are you reading in The Volkstem,
On Silas-about the Bezuidenhout AFFAIR."
mo; what was that"
ut was that the ok are rising against YOU
English. that is all. The sheriff seized Be-
~zuidenhout's wagon in execution of taxes, and
put it up to sale at Potchefstroom. But the
volk kicked the auctioneer off the wagon and
hunted him round the town; and now Cover
nor Lanyon is sending Raaf down with power
to swear in special c%onstables II enforce the
law at Pochefstroom. He might as we'll try
to stop a river by throwing stones. Let me
see, the big meeting at Paarde kraal was to
have been on tho fifteenth of December, now
it is to be on the eighth, and then we shall see
If it will be peace or war;"
"Peace OF war!' answered tho old man,
testify. THAT has been the cry for years,
How many big meetings nave there been
since Shepstone annexed the country. Six, |
think. And what has como Of it ala Just
nothing but talk. And what can come of it.
Suppose the Beers did fight, what would the
end Of 1t bes They would be beaten, and a
lot of people would be killed, and that would
be the end of it. You don't suppose that
England would give into a handful of Beers,
do yous What did Gen. Wolseley say the
other day at the dinner at Potchefstroom
Why, that the country would never be given
up, because no government, Conservative,
Liberal or Radical, would dare to do such a
thing. And now this new Gladstone govern
ment has telegraphed the same thing, so what
me that, Frank Muller.n
Muller laughed as he answered, "You are
oil very simple people, you English. Don't
you know that q government is like a
who cries No, no, no. and kisses you all tho
timer If there is noise enough, your British
government will eat its words and give
Wolseley n Shepstone and Bartle Frere
and Lanyon, and oil of them, the lie. This is
O bigger business than you think for, ON
Silas. OF course all these meetings and talk
are got up. The people are angry because of
the English way Of dealing with the natives,
and because they have to pay taxes; and they
think that, now that you English AVE paid
their debts and smashed up .Sikukuni md
Cetewayo, they would like to have the land
back. They were glad enough for, you to take
it at first; now it is another matter. But
still that is not much. If they were left to
themselves nothing would come of it except
talk, for many of them are very glad that the
land should be English. But the men who
pull the strings are down in the Cape. They
want to drive every Englishman out Of
South Africa. When Shepstone annexed the
Transvaal he turned the scale against the
Dutch elemen and broke up the plans they
have been laying for years to make o big
anti-English republic Of the whole country.
If the Transvaal remains English there is an
end OF their hopes, for only the free state re-
mains, and that is hemmed in. That is why
they are 50 angry; and that is why their
tools are stirring the people up. They mean
to make them fight now. and Think that
they will succeed. If the Beers win the day
they will declare themselves; il not, you will
hear nothing of them, and the Beers will
bear the brunt Of it. They are very cunning
people, the Cape patriots, but they look well
after themselves"
Silas Croft looked troubled and made no
answer, and Frank Muller rose and stared
out of the window.